A/N: Thanks for the great reviews!! :)


Castle didn't know how long he stood there staring at Captain Montgomery, but it must have been awhile because the next thing he knew was that Ryan and Esposito were in the office, each wearing a grim expression.

"She wasn't there. Door was locked, and no signs of forced entry. My guess is that she never made it home last night." Esposito said.

"Did anyone see her leave the precinct?" Castle asked. He wanted to continue to stand there in silence and disbelief but he knew that each minute he wasted was another moment closer to Beckett being hurt…assuming that she wasn't hurt already.

"She was the only one left here when I left." Montgomery said. He began to pace back and forth. His best detective has gone missing and they had no leads at all.

Castle was about to say something when a knock on the door interrupted him. The door flew open without Montgomery's consent, and a flustered Lanie walked in.

"Is it true?" She demanded.

Montgomery sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If you're talking about Detective Beckett, then yes, it is. How you found out so soon, I have no idea—,"

"Oh God." Lanie interrupted, pressing her lips together. "It's all my fault. If I wouldn't have told her to go home then maybe—,"

"She never made it home." Castle said, ignoring the lump in his throat.

Lanie's eyes widened. "What?"

"Her apartment was locked when we got there, and there were no signs of a forced entry." Ryan explained. "Whoever the bastard is that did this didn't abduct her from her house."

"She called me last night." Lanie said, her voice quiet. Kate was one of her best friends, and she just couldn't believe that she was taken…just like that. It had been obvious that she was being targeted but no one had any idea that the murderer would act so soon. "She called me and asked me questions about the victim. She said that she was stuck on this case and that maybe if she went back to the crime scene then—,"

"She went back to the crime scene!" Castle exclaimed, pushing past Ryan and Esposito and leaving the office. The others followed him, eager to hear any ideas he had about what might've happened. "She was there and somehow the killer knew about it and they followed her. Kate was probably distracted—,"

"And that gave the perp a chance to grab her!" Esposito exclaimed.

"Let's go." Ryan said, following Castle through the precinct and to the elevator.

Moments later the three of them were in the car, Esposito driving, Ryan in the passenger seat, and Castle in the back. They drove through the city completely ignoring the speed limit. But it didn't matter how fast they drove, Castle still felt like they were too late.


The first thing that Kate noticed when she began to regain consciousness was the voices. There was whispering, somewhere near her. She tried to focus on what they were saying, but she just couldn't figure it out.

Beckett opened her eyes slowly, trying to ignore the shooting pain in the back of her head. She was in what looked like a bedroom. She tried to lean forward to get a better view and that's when she first noticed that her hands were tied behind her. As she looked herself over, she realized that her feet were also tied together. She couldn't move.

Suddenly the memories from earlier hit her. She remembered going back to the crime scene and then something hitting her. After that, she lost consciousness.

"Well, well, it looks like she woke up sooner than we thought she would."

Kate was only vaguely aware that the whispering she had heard earlier had stopped, and now a tall heavyset man was looming over her.

"Who?"

The man standing over Kate clenched his fists and glanced back over his shoulder at someone else who had spoken. "The cop you idiot."

"Oh." The other voice replied. "What do we do with her?"

The tall man shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "We don't do nothin until boss tells us to."

"Oh." The voice said again.

While the two men were speaking, Beckett scanned the room once more. Now that she was more alert she could make out more details. There was a bed directly in front of her, blocking the view of where she assumed the door was. She had probably been put here on purpose, that way if anyone happened to look into the room then they would never see her. Off to her right was another door, and she could see that it was a bathroom.

The man standing over her looked down at her again, and Kate stared at him. His long black hair was greasy, and he had a tattoo of a dragon going up the side of his neck. In his hand, he loosely held a gun.

Kate felt her chest tighten as she began to realize how grave this situation really was. She was most likely going to be killed, if not now, then soon. She was absolutely terrified, but she had been put through training for this type of thing, and she knew how to hide it.

"What do you want?" Beckett made her voice demanding. She knew that she couldn't show any sign of weakness, and she wasn't going to.

"Ooh someone's cranky when they wake up!" The voice from the man Kate couldn't see piped up. The dragon tattoo guy turned and glared.

"Harry! Shut the hell up!" He yelled. "What did I tell you? Don't say anything! You just sit there and be quiet, got it!?"

"Fine." Harry's voice grumbled. "But I wanna play with the cop too."

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Beckett demanded again. She got the attention of the man standing over her, and heard quiet chuckles from the man she couldn't see.

"You can call me…," The black haired man paused and scrunched up his face in thought. He obviously wasn't going to give her his real name. "Ben. You can call me Ben. And what do we want with you? Answer's simple. Money."

"And then you'll let me go?" Kate swallowed, trying not to let them see her fear.

Ben leaned down in front of her, so that his face was only inches away from hers. Kate tried to move away, but she was already pressed against the wall. Ben smiled, revealing his crooked, rotten, teeth.

"It's not a ransom we're after." He spoke quietly, but there was amusement plain in his eyes. "We're not going to be calling your cop friends. We're gettin paid for just gettin you here. Whatever happens after we hand you over to boss isn't up to us." He grinned wider and leaned over Kate so that he was nearly on top of her. "But we were told that we could do anything with you that we'd like while we're here." His eyes trailed down her body, and his hand caressed her face. Kate flinched away. "Just as long as we don't kill you."

Kate could feel his breath on her face. He began to trace her lips with his finger and Kate couldn't take it anymore. She retaliated the only way she could think of, by biting his finger. Hard.

"Ouch! Damn it!" Ben pulled his finger back and looked at it. "You bitch!" He pulled his hand back and slapped her across the face.

He stood up and kicked her, causing Beckett to wince. Then he stormed off, and a door slammed. Kate leaned her head back against the wall, trying to keep herself calm and ignore the pain that was now radiating from the back of her head, her cheek, and her leg.

Even though she managed to keep herself pulled together, a single tear still slid slowly down her cheek.


A/N: That was really short. Sorry. I know everyone saw the thing with Lanie coming but...well...I didn't know how else to go haha. Please review and tell me what you think!

Season finale of Castle tonight! I'm excited for the episode...but sad that it's the season (and hopefully not series!) finale. It better get picked up! It's such a great show. I think ABC's announcing what show's are being picked back up on the 19th, but don't hold me to that. I'm not positive. Only one hour and 42 minutes until Castle (as of right now)!